SO LONG, MATT BROWN

The spokesman for the Springfield Police Department is outta here. Brown sent an e-mail to the media on Monday:

Well, the day has come that I knew would eventually arrive and it's one that I'm not looking forward to as I've become very comfortable in doing what I do. However, because of my recent promotion, I cannot stay as the PIO any longer - I have to move on. This week will be my last week as the Spokesman for the PD, next week I will be taking off because I leave for some Army training until December.

I want all of you to know that my 4 years as the PIO for this Department has been one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. I have learned many things about myself and have grown a lot because of my contact with all of you. My perception of the media will forever be changed due to what I have learned from you, and the way in which I watched you cover the stories over the years. I started out as a partial cynic and because of you, I've changed my mind as to what and how the media does it's job. I know here locally we've been blessed to have a good working relationship with all of you, and it's one that I've tried to maintain and to improve upon over the years. I know that there've been some bumps along the way, and even though I may not have agreed with some of the stories done, I hope that it can at least been said that you were treated courteously and professionally. I am grateful for the friends that I have made along the way, of which I hope will remain lifelong friends.

I wish I could name names, and personally thank all those individuals who've made this job a pleasure to have, but the list would be too long and the guilt of omission would certainly befall me as I would leave someone's name out. Suffice it to say that I have grown to trust many of you - something that is sometimes difficult in the relationship between the police and the media. The trust that was given was never betrayed and a cooperative effort was many times extended to me and the department in the effort to aid us where it was needed.

I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I was given to be the PIO, but mostly I am grateful for the time I have spent day in and day out with all of you - in the rain, in the heat, in the cold - no matter what, it was always fun.

Thank you, and I hope I have the opportunity to work with you again in the future.

We were never able to break him of the habit of using two spaces after a period, or of adding an unnecessary apostrophe to "its." But Brown's a pretty cool guy. We wish him well.